(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to testing and evaluation of a complex system and, more specifically, to verifying operation of a submarine weapon fire control system to a high degree of confidence prior to live firing.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Presettable launchable vehicles refer to modern digital launchable vehicles, such as torpedoes, in which various information is preset prior to launching and various information is measured and recorded during an actual launch. The submarine weapon fire control system comprises systems for launching presettable launchable vehicles that are difficult to test thoroughly with quantitative results as is desirable prior to live firing. In fact, it is highly desirable to test a weapons system for submarines and ships from which launchable vehicles may be dispatched prior to leaving the shipbuilder or the dock and conducting live firing verification in exercises or combat. However, to completely test a presently used submarine weapon fire control system would, among other trials, require testing the entire system including torpedo tubes, air firing valve, turbine ejection pump, weapon ejection velocity, guidance wire integrity after launch, isolation timing, and other factors in conjunction with other submarine weapons fire control system elements.
Testing the submarine weapons fire control system is not the same as a testing system for the launchable vehicle, such as a torpedo. A torpedo that is otherwise operational may fail to initiate its start sequence due to a problem in the submarine weapons fire control system. Even though testing the submarine weapons fire control system is not the same as testing a torpedo system, due to the interaction between the two systems it would be desirable to have quantitative internal readings from the torpedo circuitry prior to and even subsequent to the launch for purposes of evaluating the submarine weapons fire control system.
While weapon simulators can be used for some purposes in testing the submarine weapons fire control system, such simulators have numerous problems for "end-to-end" testing. Some, but not necessarily all, of the problems of relying on weapon simulators alone include the following:
(a) Weapon simulators are capable only of go/no-go verification of the weapon interface and are not capable of providing the detail of data necessary for quantitative analysis;
(b) Weapon simulators cannot be launched from the submarine or ship to assess launch damage while exiting the torpedo tube and transiting through the launch way and shutter areas;
(c) Actual high and low weapon power electrical loads, including activated and inactivated remote power supplies, that typically change due to weapon status are not provided while interfacing with the submarine combat system of the weapon simulator;
(d) Weapon simulators can respond to weapon interface signals that are outside the specification requirements;
(e) The electric load characteristics of the simulator such as for guidance wire and dynamic gyro do not reflect actual loads which may be dynamic rather than static and/or include reactive loads rather than purely resistive loads;
(f) The weapon simulators tend to respond much faster than actual torpedo hardware;
(g) The weapons systems cannot determine whether A-Cable separation will occur prior to system dead face or isolation. Failure of this isolation to successfully initiate can cause substantial damage to the submarine combat system equipment; and
(h) The weapon simulators guidance wire tone processing is not handled the same as in an actual torpedo.
Consequently, there remains a need for being able to completely test the submarine weapons fire control system from end-to-end in a manner that provides quantitative data and also provides a very high degree of confidence that the system as a whole will reliably accomplish its purposes, some of which are listed above. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the present invention that addresses the above and other problems.